snow day!

Who doesn't love a good old-fashioned snow day? We are all home today. It's scrambled eggs and ham in the morning, movies on TV, homemade pizza while watching Star Wars. Who knows what fun the afternoon will bring. Does it get any better than this? The only disappointing thing about this snow day is that it is so cold outside, we can't go play in the new fallen snow. Good thing this 14.5 inches will be around for a while so we can go play! Hope everyone has managed to stay safe in this blizzard!

Christmas cookies

We got to watch our nieces the weekend after Thanksgiving. We had so much fun. We went swimming at the Urbandale indoor pool, went to Chuck E. Cheese's, and Kaitlyn got to visit the downtown library. That was all on Saturday! On Sunday, we just took it kind of easy. We did get to make sugar cookies though. It was a lot of fun. Becky and Becca were a mess by the time we were done, and their cookies were loaded with sugar. Kaitlyn was much more creative and careful. She even lasted until the bitter end with me, while the younger girls gave up to go play.

Tthe girls in decorating action!

Christmas tree

finished tree

We put up our Christmas tree a couple weeks ago. Becky had a lot of fun this year looking at all of her ornaments and hanging them on the tree. You may notice that our tree is a little lop-sided this year because all her ornaments are hung in one area. But that's what it's supposed to look like when your kid is still little; right?

We did get manage to get her to hang a few up a little higher!

Disney on Ice

I took Becky to Disney on Ice. It was all princesses this year. It was so much fun! I was a little worried about Becky sitting through it all, but she loved it. She thought it was really neat that all the princesses came with their princes to Cinderella's wedding. Why wouldn't they?

enjoying some cotton candy at intermission

Cinderella's wedding

I of course took a lot more pictures to be able to memorialize the event in a scrapbook someday, but you know how they turn out at these things . . . not very good. At least we had fun!

Playground

Al and I took the day off on November 20th to spend time with Becky for her birthday. We went to Playground in Ankeny with Julie and the boys and to McDonald's for lunch. Then we did some shopping so she could spend some of her birthday money. Here are some pics from Playground. As you can see, none of the kids had any fun!

Drake

jumping

Drake, Chase, and Becky

not a toddler anymore

I forgot to take Becky's yearly photo with the bear last year, but this is two years ago. She has definitely become quite the little lady. Hard to believe how much she has grown and changed the last year. I am blessed to have such a wonderful little "princess" to call my very own.

Happy Birthday Becky Rae!

Becky's 4th birthday

Becky was excited to wake up on her birthday and find more presents! She had become quite the pro at opening them . . .

and showing them off!
She only got to open one in the morning, so here she is opening the rest.

Then we were off the Chuck E. Cheese's with friends!

Making the kids take time off from playing games to eat pizza. Drake, Chase, and Owen came to help her celebrate.
Posing with Chuck E. Cheese himself. We had to wait a good five minutes or more to get this picture, but she was so excited that there was no way I could tell her no. Quite a big change from a year ago when she wanted nothing at all to do with him!

Becky's 4th birthday party

Here is the cake I made for Becky's princess birthday party. I was a little dissatsified, as it appeared to be leaning, but I think all in all it was a hit. Becky did say to me, though, "Mom, I think it needs some curtains." I asked her why, and she said, "So people can't see in." Great logic. However, due to the falling windows, there was no way that was going to happen!Here a few pics from our photo shoot before company arrived. She's becoming such a pro!

She got to open a couple presents early because people couldn't stay for cake and ice cream. What 4 year old doesn't love that?

Here she is with some of her loot.

Here is my grandma (mom's side) with Becky, Becca, and Katilyn.

more birthday party

Here are some more pics from Becky's birthday. After the candles caught some of the ribbon on fire, she was afraid to blow out the candles so Becca and Kaitlyn had to help her (which was fine with them!) However, she did tell me that night that one of the favorite part of her day was blowing out her candles with Kaitlyn and Becca. Glad she likes to share with others!

I got Becky to stop for about one minute to take a picture with me, even though she was protesting. There was so much fun to be having!

Her present from Eric, Dawn, and the girls was a trip to Build a Bear. It was so much fun, even though the girls were worn out from a busy day of playing. Here are Becky and Becca washing Becky's kitty, which she named Happy Bear.
Here is Becky relaxing at the end of the busy day in her sleeping bag, watching a movie. Oh.... to be 4!

leaf raking

How about this Iowa weather?

Al and Becky went outside to play in the leaves and rake a little on Saturday. He came inside and grabbed the camera to snap a couple pictures. What a great husband. He sure knows how to keep his scrapbooking wife happy!

Look at that pile!

impromptu leaf fun

Last Monday night, Becky and I decided to rake up some leaves to jump in. Boy, was it fun! There is just something about leaves that make everyone happy (when we're jumping in them, not raking them up!)

Becky all covered up. She said, "Not my face, because that will make me cry." Oh, the things she comes up with!

Then Al got home and got to join us. He had fun jumping up out of the leaves and scaring Becky.

The story wouldn't be complete, though, without me telling you that Al came inside while I was getting supper ready and says, "Have you seen my keys?" Oops! They fell out of his pocket while playing in the leaves. After about 10 minutes of searching with flashlights, we were able to locate them. It was really pretty hysterical. Who loses their keys while playing in the leaves? I told him, "You know I'm going to have to blog about this." He said, "I figured." At least he understands and can laugh about it with me. I think he was just glad we found them!

trick or treat

Friday night was Beggar's Night in Des Moines. We went over to Sarah's to go trick or treating with Emma since there aren't a lot of houses in our neighborhood who participate. It sure was fun, even though it was a little cold!

I was so proud of Becky this year. She went up to the doors all by herself and knocked. She had fun but was ready to be done. It was cold and rainy. Emma, on the other hand, loves candy, and when Becky said she wanted to go back to Emma's house, Emma said she wanted more candy!

carving pumpkins

Becky and I went and got pumpkins last night since we hadn't gotten to carve any yet. We found the three best looking ones we could. (Out of eight, we took ones that still had handles on them!) Here we are carving them.

Becky got in it and pulled out what she could. She kept saying, "That's disgusting!" (That's her new favorite thing to say from The Cat and The Hat. Thanks Brenda and Bode! : )

She did a pretty good job, but there were a lot of guts, so Daddy got to help.

Our finished product!

Nite Eyes

Last Saturday we went to Nite Eyes at the Zoo. Here is Jasmine all ready to go!

She sure wasn't afraid of any of the characters this year!

Posing for a picture with Cinderella and Snow White. They were so excited to see her, telling her, "Jasmine, we haven't see you in forever!" She was thrilled!

Emma and Becky

more Nite Eyes

Here are some more pics from Nite Eyes. We sure had fun. Thanks for going with us, Emma, Sarah, Vicky and Charlie!

Before we left, we saw Spiderman and Batman. We had to go see them. Becky was so excited, until we got to the front of the line. She decided that she did not want her picture taken, and Al felt too old to go up by himself, so I snapped this picture. Becky told me afterwards, "I only like them on T.V. mom." Maybe next year!